Over the last few weeks, NIDA has been privileged to have three of the world’s foremost voice teachers and practitioners in the building to mentor our Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting) and Master of Fine Arts (Voice) students.
Photo: Rowena Balos leads BFA (Acting) year three workshop
Over the last few weeks, NIDA has been privileged to have three of the world’s foremost voice teachers and practitioners in the building to mentor our Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting) and Master of Fine Arts (Voice) students.
World-renowned teacher and one of the most recognised names in the field of voice production for actors, Kristin Linklater, was welcomed into the building, along with author of The Colour of Sound and renowned name in the voice-coaching industry, Rowena Balos, and ‘the godmother of the natural voice singing movement’, Frankie Armstrong.
The three mentored NIDA BFA and MFA students, engaging in workshops to develop the students’ skills in voice and movement.
‘With Kate Cherry now at the head of NIDA, she’s opening things up and invited me over to contribute to the explorations of actor training that’s happening here. In a very healthy way, she’s ensuring NIDA is moving into fresh woods and pastures new,’ commented Linklater.
Balos who was also over in Sydney to lead a three-day voice workshop for professional actors, including The Family Law actor, Anthony Wong, spent some of her time at NIDA mentoring our BFA (Acting) year three students.
‘It’s all about freeing the voice,’ Balos said of her approach with the year three students. ‘But more specifically, you’re not just freeing a sound, you want to free the person and what they’re thinking: how horrible they feel in a particular scene, their anger, fear or whichever emotion they are portraying so it’s not just about the voice.’
‘I teach them that it’s about more than generally loosening your body; you’re freeing a particular thought. It’s actually a technique an actor can work on right before an audition. For instance, when they’re playing someone who’s been accused of a crime and they’re innocent but terrified, they then start to get scared, and what happens to most actors is they stop breathing and they tighten up and it all becomes tension in their throat. One of my goals has been to teach the students how to keep free even when they are scared.’
‘Essentially, there’s the outer voice and then there’s the inner voice. Indeed, we need an outer voice to communicate to the audience, but the inner voice is what’s actually in the sound that the actor is making these are the colours: the fear, anger or excitement. I have different techniques, and have introduced these to the Acting students.
NIDA’s MFA (Voice) course provides specialised, conservatoire-based practice and pedagogy for actors, theatre directors, teachers of speech and drama, speech therapists or those wishing to develop a voice practice as a vocation. Find out more or apply today.
Our BFA (Acting) course, which includes development of the actors’ voice, has helped launch the careers of two-time Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett as well as Hugo Weaving, Richard Roxburgh, Sam Worthington, Miranda Tapsell, Jessica Marais and Ryan Corr. Find out more or apply today.
